The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Fergusson, Major John Adam
Fergusson, Major John Adam, is the third son of the late Sir Charles Dalrymple Fergusson, Bart., and younger brother of Sir James Fergusson (q.v.). He was born on May 7th, 1845, and educated at the Edinburgh Academy and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He passed first on the list for a direct commission in the army in 1865, and was appointed to the Rifle Brigade. After serving in India, he was private secretary to Sir James Fergusson, and Clerk of the Executive Council South Australia from 1870 to 1873. He passed the Staff College in 1878, served on the staff of the Intelligence branch of the Horse Guards in 1879, and was Garrison Instructor in North Britain from 1879 to 1880; when, having in the meantime become Captain of the Prince Consort's Own Regiment of the Rifle Brigade, he was appointed Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General of the South Australian military forces, with the local rank of major. In 1881 he was commissioned by the South Australian Government to proceed to India and arrange for the introduction of Coolie labour into the Northern Territory. Subsequently returning to England, he unsuccessfully contested Peterborough in 1883, and, having been promoted to major, was Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General in Ceylon from 1887 to 1889. Major Fergusson, who is now serving with the Rifle Brigade in India, married, in 1871, Sarah, daughter of Joseph Gilbert, of Pewsey Vale, S.A.